Like the film SEVEN, 8MM is powerful, brutal and many times hard to watch due to its subject matter. But whereas SEVEN was clever and good, 8MM is not. It descends so much into doom and gloom that you’re finally overwhelmed by it. And I hate feeling like I’ve been lectured to. (Since it’s Joel Schumacher doing the lecturing, I don’t know whether to be offended or laugh.) Some will chalk the negativity towards this film as being simple refusals of the truth, of how the world has its darker side(s). Well, of course it does, there’s no denying. But if 8MM’s goal was to only show us that, then we didn’t need 8MM. Why do we need to be reminded of something we already know? Moreover, the film just isn’t satisfying and you’re not left with anything tangible or worthwhile. A movie doesn’t have to change your life, but it has to give you something more than this did.